


Ground Control to Stargazer

by virusq



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Gen, One Shot, Post Game, Short, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-12
Updated: 2012-04-12
Packaged: 2017-11-03 12:22:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/381299
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/virusq/pseuds/virusq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joker and Liara oneshot.  Post "Destroy" ending.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ground Control to Stargazer

Night has fallen on their alien planet; the days are longer than any of them are used to. No one is quite comfortable enough to leave the wreckage at night, so the missing asari puts everyone a little on edge.

Joker finds Liara sitting alone in the clearing, stare scrutinous toward the night sky, shielding her eyes from the two-moon light. She spends her evenings gathering information and her days manually feeding as much data into the ship’s crippled databases as possible, striving to determine their proximity to an inhabited planet.

“Ground Control to Stargazer,” he growls, frustration obvious. “Come in, Stargazer.”

“Oh, Joker!” She jerks to her feet, so caught up in her observations that she’d failed to hear his approach. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know they’d send you. You shouldn’t--”

“Drew the short straw.” He clarifies, folding his arms as she collects her things.

“The stars are so different, here. Triangulating our location would be so much easier if EDI were--” She claps her hands to across her mouth and stares at him, tears welling in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Joker. I’m so sorry.”

He’s angry at his own apathy. He’s lost everything in the past few weeks: his home, his ship, his companion, his commander, his bearing on reality -- and really, that’s not even leaving the cockpit. Compared to the unexpected deaths of Tali and the Normandy, what he’d lost in EDI’s mobile platform hadn't even registered.

“They’re coming for us, Joker,” Liara whispers hopefully. “Shepard’s coming.”

He wants to believe her, but they’re running out of time. They’re stranded, broken and alone.

He sets his jaw, burying the emotions under the brim of his hat. “Just get us out of here.”


End file.
